Durban - The son of a 77-year-old pensioner, who was raped at her home near Pietermaritzburg at the weekend, was stoic on Monday as he told the Daily News how he found her moments after the incident and how he chased the alleged rapist in a blind rage.
His voice only faltered when he recalled the blood-curdling screams he had returned home to that afternoon.
“She was crying, saying it was too late, that he had already raped her,” he said.
The 32-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his mother’s identity, was himself arrested on charges of arson after the incident.
He was accused of razing the alleged rapist’s house but, after spending the weekend in police custody, he was set to be released on Monday afternoon, without having appeared before a magistrate.
A police source said this was because of a lack of evidence linking him to the crime, but official police spokespeople could not confirm this on Monday night.
“Why would anyone do such a thing?” the son asked.
He lived with his mother in Snathing, near Pietermaritzburg, and had been at a neighbour’s house on Friday. He returned home at about 5pm and, when he heard his mother’s screams, raced to her bedroom.
“When I got there, I found a (middle-aged) man I knew from the area in there with her,” he said.
The alleged rapist fled and he chased him. “I was so angry… I followed him to his house, but when I got there, he hid and I could not find him.”
Later that evening, after a blaze at the house, the still distraught son was arrested. That was the last time he saw his mother.
“I just want to see justice served, for the man responsible to be locked away,” he said.
Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said on Monday that the Plessislaer Family Violence, Child and Sexual Offences Unit had tracked down the alleged rapist on Sunday morning.
He had been in hiding in New Hanover, near Greytown. He was arrested and was expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on rape charges on Tuesday.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, praised police for the “swift arrest”.
Speaking before the son’s release she also said: “I remind the community not to take the law into their own hands.”
Daily News